If a person consumes 700 calories or maintains a deficit of 200 calories per day, how much fat are they likely to gain in a month?

To understand the implications of consuming 700 calories versus maintaining a deficit of 200 calories per day, it is crucial to analyze the energy balance concept.

When a person maintains a calorie deficit of 200 calories each day, they are burning more calories than they consume. A consistent deficit over a month results in a significant total calorie deficit. Since there are approximately 3,500 calories in a pound of fat, sustaining a 200-calorie deficit every day for 30 days leads to a total deficit of 6,000 calories. This would theoretically equate to the loss of about 1.7 pounds of body fat (6,000 divided by 3,500), assuming that the individual is primarily losing fat rather than muscle or water weight.

In contrast, consuming a surplus of 700 calories daily would lead to an increase in weight. A daily excess of 700 calories for 30 days results in a total surplus of 21,000 calories, which could lead to about 6 pounds of weight gain (21,000 divided by 3,500).

However, in the scenario presented, if an individual is operating under a daily deficit of 200 calories, they would not be gaining fat but rather potentially losing weight